About Houston Mesa
Number of accommodations: 60
Nearby Activities & Attractions
Hiking
Horseback Riding
Seasonal information
2026 Season availability
Open year round
This campground is open year round, providing flexibility for your stay.
Rates, Sites & Availability
60 Sites Available
No sites found matching your criteria.
No available sites
All sites are booked for your selected dates. Try showing all sites to see booked options, create an alert to be notified when something opens up, or adjust your dates.
Site Details
Select a site to view details
60 Sites Available
No available sites
All sites are booked for your selected dates. Try showing all sites to see booked options, create an alert to be notified when something opens up, or adjust your dates.
Reviews (762)
What Guests Are Saying
Houston Mesa Campground is praised for its clean facilities, spacious sites, and friendly camp hosts, offering a peaceful camping experience with abundant vegetation for privacy. While the location is convenient with easy access to amenities, some guests noted significant road noise from the nearby highway and occasional maintenance issues like closed showers. Overall, many campers enjoyed their stay and appreciated the campground's natural beauty and cleanliness.
What Guests Are Saying
Houston Mesa Campground is praised for its clean facilities, spacious sites, and friendly camp hosts, offering a peaceful camping experience with abundant vegetation for privacy. While the location is convenient with easy access to amenities, some guests noted significant road noise from the nearby highway and occasional maintenance issues like closed showers. Overall, many campers enjoyed their stay and appreciated the campground's natural beauty and cleanliness.
Review Summary
Mark G
VerifiedAugust 23, 2020 • Stayed at: 057, Loop: BEAR
Went up north to get away from the city. We loved this place it was beautiful and the spot we rented was clean and ready for us to use. Bathrooms were very clean too, we loved it here and will definitely be back!
Mark G
VerifiedAugust 23, 2020 • Stayed at: 057, Loop: BEAR
Went up north to get away from the city. We loved this place it was beautiful and the spot we rented was clean and ready for us to use. Bathrooms were very clean too, we loved it here and will definitely be back!
Karlan P
VerifiedAugust 21, 2020 • Stayed at: 024, Loop: ELK
Almost $30/night. Noisy, dirty bathrooms, and not really remote (just 1 mile away from town). On top of this, whenever we left for a few hours during the day, the rangers would collect our belongings, thinking we drove home several days before out departure date.
Karlan P
VerifiedAugust 21, 2020 • Stayed at: 024, Loop: ELK
Almost $30/night. Noisy, dirty bathrooms, and not really remote (just 1 mile away from town). On top of this, whenever we left for a few hours during the day, the rangers would collect our belongings, thinking we drove home several days before out departure date.
Ken L
VerifiedAugust 17, 2020 • Stayed at: 009, Loop: ELK
Really nice place, we enjoyed our stay.
Ken L
VerifiedAugust 17, 2020 • Stayed at: 009, Loop: ELK
Really nice place, we enjoyed our stay.
davinae b
VerifiedAugust 12, 2020 • Stayed at: 067, Loop: MOUN
The camp host is super friendly and efficient. The sites are nice and the restrooms were cleaner than most. Aside from a little traffic noise, the campsite is convenient, easy to get to, easy to make runs to store for ice or whatnot, and a lot more dense in trees than we would have expected, so you feel you are more separated from your neighbors than some other campgrounds we've been to. We bring a portable/chargeable speaker and just play white noise in our tent to drown out any traffic noise when sleeping. The last time we went, we were visited by some bees for a short bit while cooking breakfast, but not the previous time we were there a couple of weeks ago. This time, we just moved our water jug away from our picnic table and they left. During the hotter part of the day, go to Wagon Wheel waterfall about 15 min away---can cool off in the cold water and hike for great exercise. Then, do yourself a favor and get takeout from the Bucket of Spaghetti place in Payson for dinner... and be sure to get the meatballs! Made for a great camping meal (and easy cleanup!). We will definitely be back again.....and again.
davinae b
VerifiedAugust 12, 2020 • Stayed at: 067, Loop: MOUN
The camp host is super friendly and efficient. The sites are nice and the restrooms were cleaner than most. Aside from a little traffic noise, the campsite is convenient, easy to get to, easy to make runs to store for ice or whatnot, and a lot more dense in trees than we would have expected, so you feel you are more separated from your neighbors than some other campgrounds we've been to. We bring a portable/chargeable speaker and just play white noise in our tent to drown out any traffic noise when sleeping. The last time we went, we were visited by some bees for a short bit while cooking breakfast, but not the previous time we were there a couple of weeks ago. This time, we just moved our water jug away from our picnic table and they left. During the hotter part of the day, go to Wagon Wheel waterfall about 15 min away---can cool off in the cold water and hike for great exercise. Then, do yourself a favor and get takeout from the Bucket of Spaghetti place in Payson for dinner... and be sure to get the meatballs! Made for a great camping meal (and easy cleanup!). We will definitely be back again.....and again.
Courtnee N
VerifiedJuly 30, 2020 • Stayed at: 002, Loop: ELK
I love this campground SO MUCH. It is clean and quiet. The bathrooms were very clean and the showers were closed, but that was expected. Appreciated actually. It is close by a road and a 10 minute drive to town so I was not too worried about bears. I will definitely be coming back. THANK YOU.
Nelson K
VerifiedJuly 30, 2020 • Stayed at: 048, Loop: BEAR
Very clean and maintained
Location Houston Mesa
Address:
2100 Houston Mesa Rd
Payson, AZ, 85541
United States
From Payson, Arizona, go north for 1 mile to the junction of Highway 87 (Beeline Highway) and Forest Road 199 (Houston Mesa Road). Turn right (east) onto Forest Road 199 for .10 miles. The campground is on the north side of Houston Mesa Road.
The campground is accessible via Highway 87 (Beeline Highway), which is located approximately 1 mile south of the junction with Houston Mesa Road.
Latitude & Longitude: 34.27 / -111.314
Elevation: 1546 feet
Policies & Rules
Arrival & departure
Check in time
2PM
Check out time
11AM
General
- Extra vehicle charge of $8 per night is required. Fee can be bundled with online reservation or purchased on-site at fee machine.
- No firewood sales available at campground. Plan to purchase ahead of time.
- Fireworks are always prohibited on National Forest Land.
- For first come first serve sites, you must physically arrive at the campground to see if the campsite is available. There is no guarantee this site will be available to purchase upon your arrival.
- Campers who reserve sites 7 - 18 in Horse Camp (Mule Loop) are required to have horses or mules present. You do not need to have any to use sites 2 - 6 and 19 - 30
Nearby Campgrounds
Nearby destinations
Last updated: June 3, 2026
